Fillers - The Pain of the Pain
There’s a reason why my sister used to barricade herself in the bathroom at the doctor’s office, with doctor, staff and family urging her to unlock the door. Injections hurt. Sometimes surprisingly little these days – needles have become so much finer, look away when you receive a tetanus shot and you may not even know when the injection is done. This is not the case with dermal fillers.
Perhaps it’s the depth of the injection, or the angle, or the thickness of the injectable, but they hurt. You may remain stoic if it’s just the naso-labial lines being filled, but once the lip area is injected into, tears will begin to flow. Some doctors shrug this off as a natural reaction, akin to tears washing away an irritant. You know what else is a natural reaction? Crying when you’re in a lot of pain.
Now pain is variably felt - one person’s Waterloo of pain is another’s Chuck E Cheese; irritating, but not catastrophic. These lucky few will not require numbing when it comes to lip injections, but you have perhaps a 2% chance of hitting that demographic. My advice: if possible, request a dental block, or a nerve block. It’s an injection into the gums (like you would get at the dentist’s office – a reason why many dentists have put dermal fillers on the menu), that numbs the area from about the nose down. It does feel funny for a couple hours, and you will experience the universal worry that you are drooling. Still worth it.
Injections to counter the pain of injections may not seem logical, but the injections into the gums are sharp but short, unlike the protracted pain of lip injections. I’ve never heard a client say he or she regretted the nerve block, but I have seen the startled and dazed faces of patients who turned it down, or tried braving the treatment with numbing cream alone.
Some practices, either to save costs or time, will not offer a nerve block unless asked, so inquire before booking whether it will be an option. If they value patient comfort, it will.
